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Kenyan McDuffie concedes DC mayoral primary to Janeese Lewis George

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Kenyan McDuffie concedes DC mayoral primary to Janeese Lewis George


WASHINGTON – Washington, D.C., mayoral candidate Kenyan McDuffie on Thursday conceded the Democratic primary race to Janeese Lewis George.

Although the official certification of the primary race is continuing, McDuffie said in a statement that “it is clear that the voters have chosen a different path.” The former member of the D.C. council said he had contacted Lewis George and congratulated her. He thanked his supporters and urged them to continue working for the city.

“The campaign may be over, but the work of building a safer, more affordable, more prosperous city continues.”

The Associated Press has not declared a winner in the race. Lewis George had a little less than 53% of the vote Thursday morning, which is just a few percentage points above the 50% threshold to avoid ranked choice voting.

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The city is scheduled to release preliminary ranked choice voting results on Sunday. AP will call the race before then if it is clear that the ranked choice process will be avoided.

Lewis George has pledged to aggressively stand up to federal intervention into Washington, D.C.’s, affairs, setting up a potential showdown with President Donald Trump over his administration’s moves to challenge the city’s limited autonomy.

If the results stand, Lewis George is likely to win November’s general election in the heavily Democratic city. The winner in the general election will replace Muriel Bowser, who decided not to run again after three terms.

Lewis George would join Robert White Jr., who won the Democratic primary for the district’s delegate to Congress, as the top local officials who likely will contend with the federal government’s intentions for the city. They each campaigned on a promise to take a harder line than their predecessors against the Trump administration’s moves on the district, including its deployment of the National Guard on an ongoing, open-ended mission meant to fight crime.

“As mayor, I will work with anyone who makes D.C. safer,” Lewis George told a crowd of cheering supporters Tuesday night, “but I will also stand up to Trump.”

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Washington has limited autonomy and federal leaders retain significant control over local affairs, including approval of the budget and laws passed by the D.C. Council.

Trump further encroached on that autonomy last year when he briefly federalized the city’s police force and deployed an ongoing law enforcement surge that included the National Guard. His efforts to downsize the federal government also roiled the capital region, costing thousands of people their jobs. And he has been reshaping the city by renovating storied landmarks and putting his name or image on buildings.

Lewis George, a self-described democratic socialist and a member of the D.C. Council, has already come under fire from Trump, who last week threatened to place the city under federal control if she won.

“Maybe we’d take back Washington, run it on the federal basis,” he said.

Lewis George, 38, and a third generation Washingtonian, has vowed to overrule an executive order by the city’s police chief permitting local law enforcement to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Lewis George argued the order “hurt the trust of our community.”

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She also pledged to use any levers available to her through the city’s home rule compact to resist what she called authoritarian infringements on the district’s local governance.

“We have legal tools we can use to fight back,” she told the AP in an interview before the vote. “And we know that when we have gone to court, we’ve won.”

Bowser found herself walking a fine line between staying in Trump’s good graces and responding to the concerns of constituents, many of whom said she didn’t push back hard enough on Trump’s actions. Eleanor Holmes Norton, the 18-term, 89-year-old delegate to Congress, meanwhile, faced mounting concern from critics who said she wasn’t forcefully pushing back on the Trump administration’s moves against the city.

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.



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Washington, D.C

Police search for suspect caught on camera slashing tires in Georgetown

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Police search for suspect caught on camera slashing tires in Georgetown


Washington D.C. police are searching for a vandal who was caught on surveillance video slashing the tires of multiple vehicles in a Georgetown alley on Tuesday afternoon. The suspect, who fled the scene on a red bicycle, targeted a Chevy Suburban and a Ford Escape on the 1700 block of 35th Street Northwest.



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Reflecting Pool being drained – again – as Trump administration tries once more to fix DC landmark – WTOP News

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Reflecting Pool being drained – again – as Trump administration tries once more to fix DC landmark – WTOP News


Crews began draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Sunday, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

(CNN) — Crews began draining the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on Sunday, according to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, for the second time in three months.

In an interview released Tuesday with Katie Miller, a conservative podcaster and wife of President Trump’s deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, Burgum said they started draining the pool as planned after the July Fourth fireworks show, noting some of the fireworks debris was still in the water.

Asked about the schedule for this round of renovations, he gave no specifics beyond a broad overview.

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“Drain the water. Clean up the fireworks stuff. Repair the vandalism that was done. Fill it back up again,” Burgum said.

As of Tuesday evening, there was still water in the pool, and it was unclear if it will be drained further. Burgum indicated over the weekend that it may only need to be partially drained.

The move comes after weeks of problems – algae blooms, green-hued water, a chipping bottom and allegations of vandalism – have plagued the iconic landmark, making its woes the subject of a national fixation.

Members of the Trump administration, including President Donald Trump, have said vandals caused damage to the Reflecting Pool by gashing the lining, though they have not provided evidence to support that claim. In late June, the president said the pool would be drained after the July Fourth holiday to fix it.

The administration will use the same contractor, Virginia-based Atlantic Industrial Coatings, for this next round of repairs. Previously, the company landed a no-bid contract worth more than $14 million for their part of the work – sealing the pool and painting the bottom “American Flag- blue.”

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Asked about the timeline for his part of the repairs, Eddie Gross, owner of Atlantic Industrial Coatings told CNN that “nothing has been set yet.” He declined to answer questions about his contract and the cost of additional repairs.

The Department of Interior did not respond to questions about the timeline for this round of repairs.

Burgum, in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday, suggested the repairs could happen with the pool only being partially drained. He sought to portray the costs as minor.

“It’s going to be a small number because the majority of the work was related to the labor and the materials for the liner,” Burgum said.

“We’ll use the same company, because they did a fantastic job,” he said.

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Burgum also said the government could “absolutely” prove the damage was caused by vandals, and that there are photographs supporting the claim. But he dodged a question about whether those photographs show anyone damaging the pool.

The secretary also denied that Trump having his motorcade drive through the pool mid-renovation in May did any damage to the site.

“No, I was with him when we came that night … We were driving in a Cadillac Escalade. It is one of the presidential fleet of cars,” Burgum said, adding that the vehicle Trump took on the ride was “substantially lighter” than the armored presidential limousine known as “The Beast.”

“The whole base level of this industrial rubber layer was not yet completed, and so there was no damage that night whatsoever,” he said. “That was one of the questions we asked before we even brought the presidential motorcade there, but not a chance.”

The other contractor involved in the project, Greenwater Services, previously told CNN that when the pool is drained it will not affect their system, which is up and running.

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Chas Antinone, the president of Greenwater Services, told CNN the company can shut down and then restart the so-called ozone nanobubbler, as necessary.

Companies involved in the renovation have found themselves at the center of national news as Reflecting Pool issues continued.

The-CNN-Wire
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DC is second riskiest city for driving, Allstate says

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DC is second riskiest city for driving, Allstate says


D.C. is the second riskiest city for driving, an insurance company report says.

Allstate said it looked at the number of crashes, how often they happen and certain types of behavior behind the wheel.

“On the phones, bike lanes, people on motor scooters having no regard for the law,” one driver told News4. “It is risky, yeah. I’ve seen a lot of close calls.”

The average driver around D.C. goes just about four years in between collisions. Drivers in the least risky city — Brownsville, Texas — go about 15 years in between collisions.

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D.C. also got dinged for bad driving — like being on phones a lot — and plenty of nighttime driving, which increases risk.

Allstate analyzed property damage claims from January 2023 through December 2024 to rank cities. Here’s the Top 10:

  1. Boston
  2. D.C.
  3. Baltimore
  4. Worcester, Mass.
  5. Springfield, Mass.
  6. Glendale, Calif.
  7. Providence
  8. Sunrise Manor, Nev.
  9. Los Angeles
  10. Philadelphia

But local Allstate agent Rudy Alston says D.C. drivers themselves may not deserve the bad rap.

“I think a lot of it isn’t so much from D.C. natives,” he said. “I think it’s a lot of people coming from outside of D.C. — coming from Maryland and Virginia that commute to D.C. — that maybe aren’t as familiar with the traffic laws in D.C. and how congested D.C. is with the influx of pedestrians, Uber drivers, the Door Dash guys on the scooters, the Metrobuses. So, I just think when they get here, they’re just not familiar with it.”



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